03•24•20
Wednesday
5:45 am
"Good morning, auntie," Connelly's mom was greeted by this sweet childhood friend of his son, Violet. Since her son and Violet have been friends practically since birth, she lets her call her "auntie" instead of "Mrs. Anderson."
It was a surprise for Mrs. Anderson to see the young lady this early in the morning.
"Oh hello there, future daughter-in-law," Mrs. Anderson jokingly said. Violet is used to her calling the girl "future daughter-in-law", "future wife of Conn" and such. After all, Connelly's mom is the number one shipper of the two. "What brings you here early in the morning?"
"I just wanted to fetch Connelly and walk together to school," Violet answered.
"I see. Connie's upstairs, probably still sleeping," she pointed her index finger to the second floor. "Oh, and by the way, he looked down when he came home yesterday. He also came home later than usual. Did you guys have a fight or something?" Mrs. Anderson asked, squinting her eyes. She's like a schoolgirl ready for some gossip.
"No, we didn't fight. We never do. Did he say why he was feeling down?"
"He just said that he felt tired because he had a practice game with his teammates."
"What? He said to me yesterday that he had errands to do, so he left the building early," Violet said with a confused tone.
"Oh? Maybe he had his reasons. Anyway, have a seat. I'll get you something to drink while you wait for Connie, okay?" she said. "What would you like?"
"Just a glass of water, please."
Mrs. Anderson went to the kitchen and got a glass of water for the young lady. "Here's your drink," she gave it to Violet with a smile. "I'll call your future husband now," Mrs. Anderson said in a sing-song voice.
Violet thanked Mrs. Anderson as she laughed at the 'future husband' part.
Mrs. Anderson went upstairs and Violet was alone in the living room.
Violet wondered why he lied to his mother. She knows for a fact that Connelly never lies to his mother. Why now?
She was about to drink her water when suddenly she heard a shriek from upstairs. It came from Mrs. Anderson.
Violet didn't waste any time and ran upstairs. She saw Mrs. Anderson crying as she looked inside her beloved son's room
"Oh my god..." Violet covered her mouth in shock. Her eyes were welling up with tears.
Blood and petals were all around his room. It was a garden of dead roses.
And the poor boy... Connelly was lying lifeless on the ground. Flowers and blood filled his mouth.
"CONNELLY!" Violet screamed as she went near her best friend's body. She put her hand on his stained uniform, hoping that he was still breathing. No heartbeat, no breathing.
Mrs. Anderson was still shocked by what she saw. She was standing still on the doorway while crying, not knowing what to do.
"No... no, no, no," Mrs. Anderson muttered. "NO! THIS CAN'T BE!" In a second, the devastated mother rushed to Connelly's body.
"Auntie..." Violet went to comfort Mrs. Anderson, who was sobbing uncontrollably.
Mrs. Anderson began to call the ambulance, hoping that there is at least a chance that he could live. They said that they'll arrive as soon as possible.
While she was comforting Connelly's mother, Violet was scanning his best friend's body. She saw something on his left side. It was a wilted cherry blossom petal on his palm and a note beside his hand.
She picked up the note and examined it. There was blood splattered on some parts of the paper and the handwriting was wonky, but understandable enough for her to read.
"W-what is that, dear? A note?" Mrs. Anderson asked.
"Yes, auntie. It was probably written by Connelly in his last minutes."
Violet showed the note to Mrs. Anderson and began to read:
Hello to whoever may read this. You have probably discovered my now dead body. I'm sorry you have to see such a sight. I wrote this letter to say my final goodbyes to my loved ones.
To my parents, thank you for raising me to be a good kid. I'm always thankful for all the things you guys do for me to become the best I can be. Although your nagging is annoying most of the time, it really helped me become independent. I am sorry for all the faults that I did to you. I feel bad that I won't be able to make amends to those faults. Even though I'm gone in this world, I'm still there in your hearts. Remember that, especially you, mom. I love you both so much.
To my varsity team, I've enjoyed all the times we spent together. We won many championships, and that's something that I always cherished. Unfortunately, I won't be able to join the last game we will have for the year. Try your best even though I'm not there. If you guys lose, don't be such a hard loser about it. Strive to improve. And if you win, be humble. Always be humble. Until the next game, guys.
Finally, to my best friend, Violet. You were my life. You were the reason why I was still standing. At the same time, you were the one that was slowly killing me. To be honest with you, I started to like you since last year. So much so, I would do anything just to be with you. You helped me when I was having trouble. You cheered me up when I was down. I loved the way you took care of me. You were just the most caring person that I got to know.
Because of that, I fell for you. Whenever I see you, my heart starts jumping out of excitement. But since the day you told me that you liked Xylan, there was this continuous pain in my chest that went on until the end. That was the Hanahaki disease. I pretended that I wasn't in pain. I pretended I didn't know about this kind of disease. All because I didn't want you to worry.
You never noticed my love for you, and that hurts. Even though that's the case, I don't blame you. I don't blame you for what happened to me at all, and neither should you. I know how much you love Xylan, and I'm happy that you got together with him. If you're wondering how I knew, I was spying your conversation with him. I'm sorry for that.
I am so happy that you got to live with the love of your life. I didn't try to steal you away from him because I want you to be happy. Besides, I am relieved that you are in good hands. I know that Xylan is a good guy, so you'll live a happy life with him.
All that aside, I'm very thankful for all the things you have done to me. You made me realize that there are still very caring people in this world. And, if I ever did anything bad to you, I'm so sorry. I'll never forget you, even in the afterlife. I never regretted being friends with you.
I wish I was the one for you, but I guess I wasn't good enough to be yours.
Even so, I enjoyed our times together. Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me. Until I see you again, Violet. I love you to the moon and back.
P.S. The flower petal on my hand is the flower petal that fell from Violet's head yesterday. I discreetly grabbed it from her head to keep it as my little lucky charm. Could you please put this flower petal in my coffin? I would really appreciate it.
P.P.S. Oh and Violet, for my last request, please take care of my mom for me.
-Connelly
The two were speechless and were crying harder than before, especially Violet.
"I-I was the c-cause of his death?" Violet sobbed while holding Connelly's cold hand.
"Honey, he said that it wasn't your fault," Mrs. Anderson reassured her. "He doesn't blame you, and neither should you."
Violet stood up and punched the nearest wall out of frustration and sobbed violently. Mrs. Anderson went to her and hugged her.
Violet couldn't believe it. She indirectly killed her best friend. Even though Connelly already said that it wasn't her fault, she still felt like she was the one to blame. She felt so stupid for not noticing Connelly's romantic love for her. She was so blinded by her love for Xylan, that she didn't notice she was slowly killing her childhood best friend. That thought alone breaks her heart.
Once they had calmed down, they went to the living room and sat there. No one dared to break the silence. It was probably for the best. They need the time to think about what happened.
After waiting for a while, the ambulance arrived and took Connelly's body from his room.
Mrs. Anderson went inside the ambulance to accompany her son.
"Auntie, c-can I go with you to the hospital?" Violet hesitantly asked.
"You have your classes, dear. It's better if you go to school instead."
"I won't be able to focus in school because of this. Besides, Connelly is more important to me than my studies. Grades are just numbers. Someone's life is more important than that." Violet said, remembering what her best friend told her yesterday.
Mrs. Anderson sighed. "I guess I can't stop you. Come here."
Violet managed to smile at her and accompanied Mrs. Anderson to the hospital.
03•24•20
Wednesday
6:40 am
They arrived at the hospital. The paramedics quickly rushed the body to the emergency room. Violet and Mrs. Anderson were waiting outside the ER. Violet was sitting down on a bench while Mrs. Anderson was pacing around, her footsteps having a rhythmic sound. She went on with that until she stopped and looked at Violet.
"Have you ever liked my son?"
Violet was surprised at her sudden question. She thought about her answer.
"Well... yes. It was a long time ago when we were just in elementary. I liked him a lot. I didn't think he would like me, so I tried my best to just forget about my feelings for him." Violet said, looking down. "Last year, I finally got rid of my romantic feelings for him, but that was also the time where Connelly started to develop feelings for me. I guess the time wasn't by our side."
Mrs. Anderson let out a disappointed sigh. "How unfortunate. It looks like fate wanted you two to stay as best friends only."
She sat down beside Violet and took out her phone, seemingly texting Connelly's father about what happened.
There was a brief silence before Violet spoke.
"Uhm, auntie?" she paused, causing Mrs. Anderson to look at her. "Are you mad at me?"
Mrs. Anderson smiled and put her hand on Violet's head. "Dear, why would I be mad at you? It wasn't your fault, okay? It was no one's fault. Besides, I have hope that he is still alive."
Violet smiled back at her and nodded. Connelly's mother never failed to comfort Violet.
Violet always thought of Mrs. Anderson as her own aunt. Violet is estranged from her actual aunts, but Mrs. Anderson was always there to act like one.
————
After waiting for more than an hour, a doctor went out of the room looking gloomy. Mrs. Anderson hurriedly stood up.
"Doctor! How is he? Is there a chance?" Mrs. Anderson asked worriedly.
"Ma'am, the growth of roses in his lungs caused him to have difficulty breathing and the thorns stabbed parts of his lungs that caused internal bleeding," the doctor explained. "I'm afraid there's nothing we can do."
Upon hearing this, Violet wasn't surprised. She had little to no hope that her best friend would survive from that. Even though she had already expected it, it still breaks her heart that her best friend—her only true friend—was gone.
Mrs. Anderson began to break down into tears again. She lost her only child. No one could imagine the pain she is going through right now.
Violet caressed the sobbing mother's back as the latter was crying in her hands.
"I'm so sorry, Connelly."
-End of Chapter 5-